Tag Archives: NFL

For the fifth straight year, we have the amazing Tommy Lawlor with us to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles Draft prospects. Tommy is with Iggles Blitz, Scouts Notebook, Eagles Blog, Helmet 2 Helmet Show, and of course the Eagles’ Fan-Demonium. We talk the 2013 Philadelphia Eagles Draft, how things differ under new head coach Chip Kelly, what we may expect from the Eagles’ picks both this year and next, and many other expectations. The new era for our Eagles takes its next big step.

Also in this show, co-host Steve Brown shares with us an interview he did with former Philadelphia Eagles player, Cecil Martin. We get to talk about what Cecil is doing after playing, where he came from, and what a quality person he is.

Share this:

Ah, the smell of burgers on the grill and the sight of leaves changing colors. The familiar chant of E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLESSSS rising out of the Linc is about to deafen opposing teams again. Yes, people. It is September once more, and football season is finally here.

As we get prepared for another season filled with hopes of a Super Bowl for our Birds, it’s easy to look past all of the transformation this team has undergone over the past couple of years. It seems crazy now to think that Brian Westbrook, the mainstay of Eagles teams over the past decade is now RETIRING.

However, one man who has been here since 1999, and hasn’t changed (ok maybe his weight has) is Andy Reid, who will be entering his 14th season. In what will be perhaps his most pressure-filled season as Head Coach, Reid has already dealt with the pain of burying his son and the looming comments from owner Jeffrey Lurie that anything less than “substantially better than 8-8” will most likely result in his firing.

The “Dream Team” fiasco from last year, combined with the turbulent offseason the Eagles have endured hasn’t seemed to affect analysts, many of whom are predicting a Super Bowl run for these Eagles.

I hate to be a downer, but my opinion was last year and still is this year that the Eagles, while surely talented, are not a Super Bowl caliber team.

Blasphemy, you say?

Or have WE, as fans, overlooked the key deficiencies of this team? Lets explore together, shall we?

First of all, lets look at passing and third down conversions. The Eagles were 9th in passing last season, but the only team in the top ten who completed less than 61% of their passes (59.6%). They converted on third down 41.5% of the time, good enough for 9th in the league in that stat as well. I look for both of these numbers to remain around the same as last year, UNLESS Michael Vick suffers an injury.

The bottom-line with passing numbers? Keep Vick healthy, and the Eagles are unlikely to have as many turnovers as last season, and they won’t have to play a rookie backup quarterback who, while impressive in the preseason, probably won’t be able to win but maybe two of the four or five starts he might have to make if Vick gets sidelined.

The running game is the biggest area I expect the Eagles to decline in this year. Although I love Shady McCoy’s talents as a runner and receiver, the loss of Jason Peters will become very apparent early in the season. They should drop from 6th in the league to somewhere around 10th adding in Vick’s running ability. That may seem like an insignificant drop, but I believe that the ability of the receivers to stretch the field is going to be predicated on play action passing, which Andy Reid is quite fond of. Bottom-line? The inconsistency of the running game (and of calling running plays) will show up this year again and be an Achilles heel of the team.

The running, passing, and receiving game all go hand-in-hand with offensive line play, which is the other area I expect a lot of struggle this season. The lack of Jason Peters on the left side not only closes huge running lanes, but forces the Eagles to use young players at other positions, and although I am quite a fan of Jason Kelce’s beard, he (to me) is too small to be a center. This group will have great games and horrible games this season.

The ONE area that this team is going to improve a lot on is Defense. Not necessarily an improvement in talent (outside of Demeco Ryans) but in cohesiveness and in maturity. After a year of learning Juan Castillo’s system, they will still be undersized and a little slow in the middle, but hopefully won’t make as many bonehead miscues as last season, and should finish around the same spot in total defense, or at least in the top ten.

Overall, expectations are very high for this team. Are they merited? Absolutely. This is clearly the most talented roster in the NFL. However, I don’t believe they will win a Super Bowl.

Call me a typical negative Eagles fan, or call me crazy.

Whatever the case may be, I see them going 13-3, splitting with the Giants and losing to Pittsburgh and New Orleans. I see them getting to the Super Bowl, but sadly I think the season will end with another Super Bowl loss to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

I THINK that is what will happen. But who am I, and what do I REALLY know? Not a whole lot more than any other passionate fan. I’m hoping that this is the year. Only God knows what will happen. But not knowing is all the fun right? It’s a new season, and we are blessed to be fans of the greatest team playing the greatest game in the world.

Three preseason games down, and the Philadelphia Eagles win their third. This time backup quarterback Nick Foles takes the start while Mike Vick gets some rest for his ribs. Foles continues to do very well, showing great things as a future starter with this organization. The Eagles beat the Cleveland Browns 27-10 under his leadership. We talked about how Vick needs to protect himself during this season and not put himself out there on every play if there are huge risks. He has to throw the ball away or slide (feet first, of course.) What we want overall, besides a safe quarterback, is a controlled and balanced Offense this year. With the caliber of running backs we have, this Offense could be deadly if balanced correctly.

Our guest this week is EFC contributor Holden Fulco, and he brings up an former Eagles player who is also not doing well, in the name of Kevin Kolb. The conversation then shifts to what the organization sees that we as fans do not, and most of the time the players that leave the Eagles do not thrive.

The Eagles organization had both good news and sad this week, with the sad being we learned of the death of legend Steve Van Buren. Any Eagles history book has to mention him, and his accomplishments are still talked about to this day.

On the positive side, modern favorite Brian Westbrook announced that he would retire an Eagle. Still amazes me as to how lucky I have been to have watched him live on that field so many times. An amazing player and great person. I’m glad he is retiring with us.

The NFL Draft 2012 is now in the history books. We are back with the scouting guru Tommy Lawlor to work through everything our Philadelphia Eagles did during the Draft weekend. The Eagles went after the players they targeted, moving around in the order to get them. We discuss how this all came about, and was each one worth it? Overall things looked good for the team and if the new additions can make a difference this coming season, then the Eagles are an improved team overall.

The NFL Draft 2012 is a week away, and as in previous years we have it covered thanks to a great friend in Tommy Lawlor. Tommy helps us weed through all of the speculations, rumors and anxious fan concerns leading up to this year’s Eagles Draft. We discuss the year’s draft class, what the Eagles need, try to understand what Andy Reid might be thinking, and the overall approach the Eagles will take to address the needs of the team for the near future as well as the positions to be addressed a few seasons from now. It is never easy to decipher the extremely complicated plans that all of the teams have, but there are only a few days for them to put them together and execute starting next Thursday evening. The 2012 Eagles season may be influenced in a huge way by this Draft.